Psoriasis in Saudi Population: Gender Differences in Clinical Characteristics and Quality of Life

Abstract

Introduction Patients with psoriasis suffer from an inflammatory immune-mediated skin condition that impacts their quality of life severely. In our study, we aimed to analyze the gender differences in clinical characteristics in patients with psoriasis and to assess the quality of life in these patients. Methods This is a retrospective observational study that was conducted at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Results A total of 139 patients with psoriasis met the inclusion criteria, with a mean ± SD age of 45.53 ± 15.3 years. No statistically significant gender differences were observed in terms of disease duration, BMI, clinical type and body surface area (BSA) (P=0.657, P=0.782, P=0.565, P=0.088, respectively). However, psoriasis caused a significant impairment in the quality of life in female patients compared to males (P=0.036). Conclusion This study reports the gender differences in clinical characteristics in patients with psoriasis and its impact on the quality of life. More researches with larger sample size and different populations are needed in order to identify more potential gender-specific variations.